Friday, March 16, 2007

We had several days in a row of fabulously warm weather this past week. The snow has largely melted at Wayfarer House, and at my school we were able to play softball on the softball field, instead of the parking lot (which is much safer for everyone’s vehicles, I’ve discovered). Local flora has begun to blossom and fauna (including the middle schoolers) have entered the rutting season. People’s blood is thinner now than it was just a week ago, which makes the weather today hurt just a little bit more.

We’re getting snow today. Not just a little snow, mind you, but a full-fledged Nor’easter, complete with all 5 varieties of winter precipitation and heavy snow warnings. The end result will be a dumping of over a foot of snow on Wayfarer House and continued cooling over the next several days (highs in the 30s, not the 60s). It is snowing heavily as I write this, and my school is joining the growing numbers of institutions closing early and sending students home. I may have to pick my girls up early from pre-school, depending on how the roads are as I head north. Right now, they are not due to close early (which is good, since neither Wifeness or I is really in a position to come and get them today). I have all-wheel drive on my car and I am an excellent driver in the snow (if I do say so myself), so I’m not worried about all this, but it does throw monkey works on the wrench for my afternoon plans if I have to go pick them up. I was hoping to get my new cycling shoes first!

I haven’t been riding in almost 2 weeks, and I’m really itching to try out my new pedals. Have I shown them to you? They look like this (but on my bike).

And my shoes look like this.

With both of them together, I can ride like this!

Wifeness and I started looking at possible routes for my ride to Pennsylvania in July. I’m totally stoked that she’s going to be part of it! I certainly wouldn’t have minded doing it by myself, but I’ve always enjoyed going on adventures with her and this way I can share it with her and with my girls, even if they’re not riding themselves.

3 comments:

All five kinds of winter precipitation, indeed. Sigh. I can't say it's a surprise - being a native New Englander, I'm smarter than to think that what we had last week was really a harbinger of actual SPRING - but it IS a disappointment.

HAHAHAHA!! That would be cool! No, I expect they'll go visit touristy places along the way, with the stop at the occasional playground or other kid friendly activity.

Part of the fun of planning the trip will be figuring out that stuff. We discovered when we went to England two Novembers ago that it was totally worth it to find ways to involve the kids in our adventures, and to incorporate their own interests into the itinerary. They felt involved in the adventure because they had a say in what we did and, as a result, they were much more tolerant of the grown-up things we wanted to do.